Pebble
by HappyLamp
Summary: Frederick hadn't always had a fixation with pebble collecting. A while back, as he accompanied Chrom to and from a nearby village, the two did not meet brigands or Risen, but rather, an unsuspected foe: a pebble. Light, maybe kind of fluffy. You can interpret ChromxFrederick, or just see it as, well, their relationship in the game.


**Hello there! I wrote this fun little piece on a place, deprived of sleep. So! Please don't expect anything too serious! You can look at this and see some romance between Chrom and Frederick, or you can just see that as Frederick being... well, Frederick. I was inspired by three support conversations from FE:A.**

**1) Chrom/Sumia C: Chrom trips over a pebble.**

**2) Frederick/Avatar C: They mention that Frederick collects pebbles so that no one would sprain their ankle mid-march.**

**3) And lastly, Chrom/Frederick A: Frederick clears out the path from Chrom's tent to Avatar's, sweeping away pebbles and such.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this! Feedback is always appreciated!**

* * *

The village wasn't far from the outskirts of Ylisstol. In all honesty, Chrom was sure that he would have found the village—especially that he had been traveling there ever since he was old enough to walk—without Frederick having to tag along.

"It would be a perfect opportunity for someone to attack you, milord. I simply can't leave you to such a dangerous path alone!"

Chrom groaned inwardly, but slowly nodded at the lieutenant's words. Though he was far too old for a 'babysitter', it was nice to have Frederick along as a friend. The village wasn't a long way away, but every walk is more enjoyable with company. …Even if their purpose is to 'protect' you.

Walking along the dirt path leading from the capitol of Ylisse to a small village, even Frederick had to admit that the path wasn't treacherous. …Yet. But in the meanwhile, it was fine to make some small talk.

After a while, the dirt path led to the village. Smiling slightly, the prince walked up to one of the wooden houses and knocked on the equally wooden door ((…whut?)). A man, slightly older than the prince himself, opened the door. After staring quizzically at the two men at his doorstep for a second or two, his eyes lit up with comprehension.

"Prince Chrom! Sir!" he cried, at once dropping down to one knee before the blue haired man. Frederick nodded in approval at the villager's actions, but Chrom sighed slightly.

"I'm just dropping in to make sure everything's alright. There was a brigand attack a couple days ago while I was away, wasn't there?" Chrom asked, motioning for the man to get up.

He did so, and dusted his knees as he stood up, "Yes… yes, milord," the man answered as he motioned further into the village, "they burned down my brother's house, but no one was hurt. He's staying with my family for now. Other than some stolen alcohol and gold, they touched nothing, sir."

Chrom nodded, "That's good to hear," he said, looking around. Truly, the village looked more or less as good as always, so he was content, "Forgive me, I should have been around to help, but I'm afraid I was out of town then."

"Prince Chrom, please don't apologize!" the villager exclaimed, "You're already doing so much for us. You have our thanks."

The prince smiled in thanks, but said nothing else.

"Milord? Might we get going?" Frederick asked, "I'm sure Princess Lissa ought to figure out by now that you've left without her. I'd suggest getting back as soon as we can."

Chrom chuckled, "Right as always, Frederick." He turned to the villager and nodded once more, "Farewell. Take care of your brother."

Turning back, the prince and his lieutenant started making their way to the dirt path leading back to Ylisstol. The villager smiled and waved to them, before realizing that his actions were inappropriate for addressing royalty, and bowed quickly before returning into his wooden house.

"See, Frederick?" Chrom said as they walked along the path, "The trip was perfectly safe."

"Indeed. But that doesn't exclude the possibility that something _could_ happen. If brigands were daring enough to attack a whole village back there, I'm sure they would not hesitate to rob you as well." the lieutenant said, to which Chrom could only roll his eyes.

"I can fight for myself just fin—Ahh!"

"Milord!"

Chrom winced. He had made an unfortunate foot placing and accidentally stepped on one of the many stray pebbles along the dirt path. The result was painful, but the prince had suffered many worse pains in battle.

"Are you hurt, milord?" Frederick demanded, his hands at once flying to support the other man's back, so that he would not fall over in his pain.

"I'm fine, Frederick," Chrom said, waving his arm, "I just stepped on a pebble—but nothing's wrong."

"We must hurry to Princess Lissa! You might've sprained your ankle!" the Great Knight cried out.

"I-I'm fine, Frederick!" Chrom protested, "I slipped on a pebble, _not _suffered from a battle wound. Really!"

"Nonsense, milord! Let me take you to milady Lissa!" he insisted.

Before Chrom could stop him, Frederick slipped one arm under the prince's knees and the other around his waist. He picked him up in his arms and at once started making his way towards Ylisstol. Chrom struggled to get back down to his feet, but the Great Knight's iron grip was far too strong for even Chrom to force his way out of.

"Frederick!" Chrom demanded, "Put me down! Frederick!"

"It's alright, milord, you're not very heavy, if that's what you're worried about." The brown haired man smiled as he continued walking along the dirt path.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M WORRIED ABOUT!" Chrom cried out, "Put. Me. Down!"

"But milord! If you walk on your sprained ankle as it is now, it could turn into something incurable!" Frederick nodded, "Yes, I shall take you to Princess Lissa, and then you'll be fine."

"I DON'T HAVE A SPRAINED ANKLE! I can walk just fine! …Frederickkkk!"

"Heh, milord remains as amusing as ever. Don't worry, I'll carry you the whole way back to the castle. Oh, and milord? Your face is all red. Are you feeling alright?"

* * *

Lissa pouted. "Big brother and Frederick left without me, eh? I'll show them! I'll conjure up the biggest, baddest prank for both of them! They'll be so embarrassed that they'll never leave me like this again!"

Kicking off her satin shoes, the princess ran outside into the courtyard and over to the small pond near the back gate to the castle. It was one of her favourite spots to hang around—especially because it was creditable for most of her frog and fish pranks that she pulled on the Shepherds. (On another HAND, Vaike was definitely her favourite person to pulls pranks on for now). She dipped her feet into the cool water of the pond and smirked to herself. There were lots of fish and frogs visible in the pond today, definitely making it an easy catch. Soon enough, Lissa had caught two large, warty toads. She smiled at her catch.

"This'll teach them, for sure!" she exclaimed to herself.

And in that moment, the back gate burst open. Lissa jerked her head towards the commotion and stared quizzically at what she saw for a couple of seconds.

"Ah! Milady, you're here!" Frederick exclaimed as he entered the castle garden, still carrying Chrom bridal-style, "Please, get your staff at once and heal Milord!"

Lissa knitted her eyebrows, still staring at the strange sight in front of her before she felt panic bubble in her stomach.

"Big brother… what happened? Were you attacked? Who hurt you like this?"

Chrom covered his face with both his hands in embarrassment, as if his little sister wouldn't recognize him anyone. He mumbled something.

"Eh? What did you say?" Lissa asked, letting go of the two toads as she prepared herself to run to retrieve her staff.

"Milord said 'pebble'." Frederick 'translated' patiently. Lissa's eyes grew large for a moment, before erupting into laughter.

"Hahaha! "P-pebble"? HAHAHA! Oh, brother! Heheha! I thought you were too mighty to be bested by a pebble! Hahaha!" Chrom's sister laughed. A loud snort was heard from her as well, but the princess ignored it—the moment was much too funny to care about being lady-like.

"…Kill me now…" Chrom muttered, still covering his face with his hands as Frederick held up.

"Please, milday, the sprained ankle could turn to something much worse if it's not looked at immediately." Frederick said solemnly. Lissa nodded.

"I DIDN'T SPRAIN MY ANKLE!" Chrom cried out desperately.

"Oh, al_right_. I'm going, I'm going. Just wait here, okay?" the princess chuckled before running to get her staff from the castle.

"Heh… I was planning on embarrassing the both of them, but I think big brother's had his portion of humiliation! Heh… bridal style…" Lissa laughed under her breath.

She quickly returned from the castle with her staff in hand and hurried back to the back garden. Frederick and Chrom were still in the same place—not that the prince had a say in this, as he was in total 'custody' of the lieutenant.

"Alright, big brother, where does it hurt?" the princess said, almost teasing him.

Once again, Chrom mumbled something into his hands, but it was inaudible. Lissa looked to Frederick for translation.

"His right ankle, milady." He nodded.

Lissa walked up to Chrom (and Frederick, for that matter) and held out her staff. Raising it up into the air, she muttered a couple words. A milky blue light emitted from her staff, engulfing all three figures for a moment. Quickly, the light faded away and Lissa stepped back.

"Better?" she asked. Chrom nodded.

"That's wonderful, milord. I'm glad your sprained ankle is all better now." Frederick smiled.

"I hadn't sprained my ankle." Chrom reminded everyone, but at this point, he sincerely doubted that they were listening to his protests. "Er… you can put me down now, Frederick."

"Ah, of course, milord." The brown haired man said, gently lowering Chrom onto the ground. He glanced at the prince, and quickly straightened out his cloak, which had gotten slightly tangled whilst being carried.

"Frederick…" Chrom growled.

"Forgive me, milord." The man said, resisting his impulses to straighten up the prince any further.

"…Thank you…?" Chrom said, surprised that, for once, Frederick had listened to what he said. "And, uh… that was very embarrassing. Please refrain from this ever happening again, alright?"

"I completely understand, milord," Frederick nodded, "I see how you could be embarrassed by what happened, especially if the word spreads around to the other Shepherds."

Chrom smiled slightly, "You have my thanks. And gods forbid the others find out about this! …Lissa, you better keep quiet!"

"Haha, okay, big brother~" the princess said, still in a good mood from witnessing the prince's humiliation.

"I'm glad we all agree." Chrom said.

* * *

Ever since that incident, Frederick was always absent from the marches with the Shepherds as they were camping. He had always gone before the rest of the group, to go ahead for some reason.

"What could he be doing…?" Chrom wondered aloud, as he jogged ahead to find his trusted lieutenant.

Walking along the dirt path in the forest, he spotted a glimpse of silver in between the trees. Happy to finally find a trace of Frederick, the prince quickly made his way over to him.

"Frederick! I've been looking all around for you!"

"Ah, that please me, milord, but you needn't worry about me." Frederick said. He was kneeling down on the dirt path, gathering stray pebbles on the path.

"Er… what are you doing?" the prince asked.

"Ah! Don't mind me—I'm just doing like milord instructed!" Frederick exclaimed happily as he continued to gather pebbles from the path and throw them aside, "I'm making sure that the incident with the pebble doesn't repeat itself again."

Chrom stared at Frederick in disbelief. The path he had walked to find his friend was pebble-free completely, though he had not noticed it before.

"Er… thank you? …Although this wasn't quite what I had in mind…" Chrom muttered.

"It's no problem, milord. You're welcome." Frederick smiled, which to what Chrom could only sigh.


End file.
